WCC PLAY STARTS WITH CRUCIAL MATCHUP 
-This series against San Diego has huge implications for the WCC, with San Diego and Gonzaga taking the top two spots in the preseason poll.
-The teams combined for nine of the ten possible first place votes in the poll
-The race for the WCC Championship (and the NCAA postseason auto-bid) has potentially huge implications for the NCAA tournament: A WCC team has won a game in every NCAA tournament since 2008
- These rivals have met in the WCC tournament playoffs the past two years, with the Zags coming up short on both occasions
- D1 Baseball picked Gonzaga as the preseason favorite, with San Diego picked to finish second
- Coach Machtolf currently has a career winning record agianst every WCC school outside of USD
-Gonzaga returned more WCC First Team All-Conference players (3) than every other team in the league combined (1) for the 2026 season

ZAGS ENTER WITH MOMENTUM
-The Zags have outhit their opponent in nine straight games
-GU has won 82.3% of games in which they outhit the other team (475-102-1) in the Mark Machtolf era
-They have also hit more than five runs in six of their last seven games
-GU has won 81% of games (420-99) under Machtolf in which they have scored six or more runs.
-The team's 7.77 hits allowed per nine innings is 42nd in Division 1
-Gonzaga's 9.9 strikeouts per 9 Innings Pitched also ranks 61st overall in Divison 1 baseball
-Five Zags (Meffert, Eisenstat, Wrubleski, Haley, Shinkle) enter the game with a hitting streak of six or more games. Meffert enters on a nine game hit streak, while Eisenstat has seven game hit streak and has hit a home run in back to back games

ZAGS TIE RECORDS IN SERIES SWEEP OF SYCAMORES
-Gonzaga tied a program record for runs scored in a single game in a huge 23-16 win over Indiana State on March 15th. GU trailed by a score of 16-12 heading into the ninth inning before rallying to tie the game. The Zags then scored seven runs in the tenth inning to win
- he Zags hit seven home runs in the game, the second highest single game total in modern program history and the most in a game since 2010
- GU also drew 12 walks, the third most walks drawn by the Zags in a game since 2017
- The game, played in nearly 40 mile per hour winds, featured a remarkable 12 home runs
- This finished Gonzaga's first sweep of the year, with the Zags beat the Sycamores by a score of 7-4 in the first two games of the series

SUPERB STUFF FROM SANCHEZ
-Starting shortstop Ricky Sanchez was a key part of that explosion of offense, tying a program record in hits in a single game with a 5 for 6 day at the plate
-Sanchez hit three home runs, including a grand slam, to tie a school record for the most single game home runs by a Zag
-His nine RBIs were the most by a Zag in a single game in the past decade, coming just short of Darin Holcomb's record setting performance of 10 RBIs in a game on March 4, 2006 against Chicago State
- Sanchez finished the game with four runs. He was named the WCC Player of the Week for his performance. 

HOW ABOUT HOOD?
-Landon Hood has already been named WCC Freshman of the Week three times this season
- Hood ranks second in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings with only 3.05. He trails only USC's Mason Edwards
-Hood's 0.77 WHIP ranks 18th in Division 1
- He also has 13.5 Strikeouts per 9 Innings, currently the 27th highest rate in Division 1
- His 1.31 ERA is 28th overall among qualified D1 pitchers 

ZAGS SURPRISED SOONERS IN NORMAN
- Gonzaga got their best win of the season on the first day of March, taking down #13 Oklahoma by a score of 7-1. The Zags scored 5 runs in the 9th inning
- A great pitching performance held OU to only three hits. OU had ranked in the top 10 in scoring and on base percentage in D1
- Karsten Sweum only allowed one run across six innings, giving up only four baserunners while striking out 7 Sooners.
-Sweum retired 12 straight Sooner batters in the midst of his start.
- Landon Hood tossed three hitless innings in relief, picking up the first save of the season while throwing another 7 strikeouts.

MACHTOLF CLOSES IN ON GONZAGA RECORD
-Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Machtolf currently has 630 career wins, ranking second in all time program history behind Steve Hertz, who holds the high mark with 637
- Coach Machtolf brings a .541 win percentage into his 23rd season at the helm in 2026, the third-highest in Gonzaga history.
-Machtolf is the all time leader among active WCC coaches in career wins. He holds more than double the career WCC wins of every other active head coach in the league
- Machtolf earned his 600th career win on March 14 last season in a 4-3 victory over Washington